Free Republic

The nursery in Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler's home is filled with unread children's books and unworn baby clothes. A Winnie the Pooh blanket lies untouched inside a crib where a child has never slept. For nearly four years, the Redmond couple has been fighting to prove to the state of Oregon that they are intellectually capable of raising their children. The Department of Human Services has removed both of their boys, saying the parents are too mentally limited to be good parents. Fabbrini, 31, and Ziegler, 38, lost custody of their older son, Christopher, shortly after he was born....

Danielle Outlaw, a 19-year veteran of the Oakland Police Department who started as a police explorer when she was in high school, will serve as Portland's next chief, only the third outsider named to lead the Police Bureau. Wheeler will introduce her at a news conference Thursday. She'll earn $215,000 annually and is expected to start no later than Oct. 2. The details of her hiring were ironed out over the weekend.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday blew off wanting to talk about an elderly constituent in his state who was raped by an illegal immigrant that was previously deported 20 times. Wyden refused to answer The Daily Caller’s questions about the illegal immigrant accused of raping a 65-year-old woman at her Portland home and assaulting another female in the area. Portland is a sanctuary city. (RELATED: Man Who Allegedly Raped Oregon Woman Had Previous ICE Detainer, 13 Deportations) “We’ll have more to say about that another time. Today is about taxes,” Wyden said, before he veered off...

Salem, Ore.-Taxpayer-funded pension systems are combustible by nature, but Oregon's ticking time bomb known as PERS is on the brink of exploding. Among the impending disaster's collateral damage, Republicans say, will be public workers and kids if so-called "progressive" Democrats are allowed to dodge the hard work of diffusing the PERS bomb. Under Oregon's one-party-rule taxpayers are now on the hook for an estimated $52,100,000,000 in taxpayer-held pension debt. Simply put, to avoid getting smacked with an Illinois-like credit rating of near "junk" status, late last Friday the PERS Board adjusted the taxpayer funded-pension system's (PERS) assumed investment earnings rate,...

Earlier this week, PBS published a piece about three conservative women in the city of Portland. It’s an unusual perspective in a city that is overwhelmingly progressive. As you would expect, many of the locals aren’t kind to those with a different opinion. Helen Church became more active about her political beliefs after her son’s middle-school teacher told him that anyone who supported Trump was a racist: Up to that point, Church’s activism consisted mostly of writing letters to local and state representatives, and sometimes the White House. But as she watched people on the left continuously denigrate Trump supporters,...

Top 10 Oregon counties for gonorrhea Updated July 15, 2017 Posted July 11, 2017 A gonorrhea epidemic has hit Oregon amid public health concerns that the disease is becoming immune to standard treatment. Since 2012, cases have nearly tripled statewide, affecting just about every part of Oregon, including rural counties where infections have been traditionally low. Officials in some counties have become so concerned that they’ve launched public awareness campaigns, with ads on dating sites, Facebook and Google. In others, specialists have gone door-to-door, trying to track down infected people and their partners to get them treated. “We came to...

The national movement to change racially offensive names of buildings, sports teams and landmarks will soon touch a group of schools in southeast Portland. Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood and Lynch View elementary schools will shed their "Lynch" before the upcoming school year in response to growing concern about the word's racial connotations. The schools, part of the Centennial School District, were named for the Lynch family, which donated land over a century ago to build the first of the schools. But Centennial Superintendent Paul Coakley says many newer families coming into the district associate the name with America's violent racial...

Eric Ziegler, 38, didn't do a good enough job teaching his son Christopher to wash his hands after going to the bathroom. So the State of Oregon put the boy in foster care. That's not the only reason the government intervened. But a lengthy story by Samantha Swindler in The Oregonian doesn't shy away from the awful, outrage-inducing truth: The state has taken a couple's children away not because they're abusing or neglecting the kids but because it thinks the parents aren't smart enough to raise them properly. Ziegler and his partner, Amy Fabbrini, both have below-average IQs—72 and 66,...

A new recycled fiber processing plant is set to open today in Scappoose. Cascades Tissue Group is expected to create 69 new jobs in Scappoose and preserve 114 existing positions in St. Helens. The strategy was partially backed by a $500,000 investment from the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund. Cascades also collected $60,000 to renovate its St. Helens plant in 2014. “Oregon is proud to make investments into businesses that show promise to create local jobs, generate sustainable growth, and act as catalysts for future economic development in the region," said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, in a release. Brown will appear...

In Oregon, a state known for its avid bicycling culture, the state Legislature’s approval of the first statewide bike tax in the nation has fallen flat with riders.

In Oregon, a state known for its avid bicycling culture, the state Legislature’s approval of the first bike tax in the nation has fallen flat with riders. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the sweeping $5.3 billion transportation package, which includes a $15 excise tax on the sale of bicycles costing more than $200 with a wheel diameter of at least 26 inches. Even though the funding has been earmarked for improvements that will benefit cyclists, the tax has managed to irk both anti-tax Republicans and environmentally conscious bikers. BikePortland publisher Jonathan Maus called it “an unprecedented step...

Our Guests: Daily Caller investigative reporter, Luke Rosiak & Former deep-cover FBI Special Agent, John Ligato This Week: The mainstream media continues its obsession on Russia while ignoring a story of espionage and possible theft has been building for years. Could it be they are providing cover for their Democrat allies? We go where the mainstream media doesn't want us to and investigate the real story behind how three Muslim brothers and two of their wives have been able to skirt security clearance protocols while obtaining the most sensitive IT material from oversight Congressional committees. Sensitive material that was supposed...

The Oregon legislature just passed a gun control measure that substantially weakens constitutional rights. Senate Bill 719 will allow a family member or a police officer to obtain a civil court order immediately stripping someone of the right to possess a firearm for up to a year, if a judge finds the person presents a danger to himself or others. The subject of the order has no right to contest it before it is issued. He can pursue an appeals process afterward, which is a bit like having the right to a jury trial after you've already been sent to...

A truck full of eels overturned Thursday on U.S. 101, dousing a sedan with slithering sea creatures. Hate it when that happens. The eels — and lots of gooey stuff that will make you shiver in your sandals — are all over the road. It's a decidedly disgusting scene. You should probably stay away.

The House Natural Resource Committee passed the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 today, mostly along party lines. The bill’s supporters claim it will help mitigate or prevent the spread of wildfire-prone areas by easing restrictions on forest-thinning. Environmentalists, however, note the bill goes too far. They claim it opens the door for the timber industry to move into protected wildlands. They also point to the bill’s delisting of the Cascade-Siskiyou forests as a national monument, potentially marking the first monument rescinded per Trump’s executive order. The bill will go before the full House for a vote, expected by August...

An Oregon bill requiring health insurers to provide their customers with free abortions — including illegal immigrants — has advanced to the state Senate after winning approval in the state House with no Republican votes. House Democrats pushed through the Reproductive Health Equity Act after a nearly two-hour debate over the bill, which would allocate $10.2 million for services related to contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, including vasectomies and abortions, in the 2017-19 budget period. About $500,000 would be earmarked for the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program, for the estimated 22,873 women who would be eligible “except...

$10 million Reproductive Health Equity Act approved with no GOP votes, advances to state SenateAn Oregon bill requiring insurers to provide their customers with free abortions—including illegal immigrants—has advanced to the state Senate after winning approval Saturday in the state House with no Republican votes. House Democrats pushed through the Reproductive Health Equity Act after a nearly two-hour debate over the bill, which would allocate $10.2 million for services related to contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, including vasectomies and abortions, in the 2017-19 budget period. About $500,000 would be earmarked for the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program,...

On a cloudy day in early November 1979, a caravan of Nazi and Ku Klux Klan members careened into Greensboro, North Carolina, winding toward a local Communist Workers’ Party protest that had gathered in the city to march against the state’s white supremacists. The communists, wearing berets and hard hats, spotted the fleet and taunted the new arrivals with chants of “Death to the Klan!” The KKK convoy slowed, and stopped. Far-left protesters, bearing both wooden planks and concealed pistols, began surrounding the motorcade, beating the doors. As TV cameras rolled, the trunk of a Ford Fairlane, stuffed with shotguns...

Normally I post Oregon Standoff matters at this time of the morning but I posted the "Oregon Live" story about the indictment of FBI Special Agent W. Joseph Astarita of the "Hostage Rescue Team" late last evening. Some analysis of the situation. The indictment of the FBI agent was rolled out the week before the July 4th holiday. This is when big government, big business release the bad news that makes them look bad, the news that's embarrassing and so on. Its at a time when you're vacationing or not working or not using media like you normally do. The...

An indictment accusing an FBI agent of lying to hide the he fired two shots at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and missed caps an 18-month investigation.... Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson credited his investigators for their tenaciousness..... The sheriff also revealed that FBI leaders, told of his department's findings more than a year ago, didn't put the agent or four of his colleagues on leave..... all members of the Hostage Rescue Team..... The indictment of W. Joseph Astarita, 40, of New York casts a shadow on the highly trained team...... "I'm encouraged. I'm thrilled that the grand jury came back with...